Guard against dangers of radiation

JULIE BEUN / POSTMEDIA NEWS ARCHIVES Enlarge Image

These smiling kids are being subjected to dangerous radiation from their seemingly harmless phones.

Last week, I reported "dirty electricity" generated by computers and other electrical devices has been linked to unexplained aches and pains, depression, sleepiness, ringing in the ears, headaches and a foggy brain. And that an international group of scientists believes electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from dirty electricity can cause an increase in brain malignancy.

Dirty electricity is produced when transformers convert clean 60-hertz household current into low-voltage power for electronic devices. This creates micro surges of electricity that contain up to 2,500 times the energy of a conventional 60-Hz system. This electrical pollution causes a negative effect on our health.

Dirty electricity is bad for everyone, particularly children. A Swedish study reported teens who use cellphones have five times greater chance of developing brain cancer than adult users. Since children's skulls are thinner, cellphone radiation penetrates a far larger proportion of brain tissue.

In May 2010, the World Health Organization released a 10-year study into cellphone use and cancer rates. It recognized a significant correlation between malignant brain tumours and people who used their cellphones, wireless home phones or Wi-Fi-connected devices for more than 30 minutes combined daily.

Since everyone, including children, will continue to use cellphones, what can be done to decrease the risk of dirty electricity? Parents can practise what is known in Europe as the "precautionary principle," which means using old-fashioned horse sense. For a start, it's prudent not to expose your family to unnecessary radiation such as purchasing a home near a transmission tower.

Replace all the dimmer switches in your home with regular ones. Even when turned fully on, dimmers contaminate an entire home's electrical wiring with dangerous high-frequency energy. Avoid low-voltage halogen tubes and energy-efficient compact fluorescent lighting. Virtually all of these technologies create dirty electricity.

Replace your TV monitor with a new LCD model as they emit much less EMR. If you can't live without a microwave oven, stand at least 1.5 metres away when it's on or, better still, get out of the kitchen. And get rid of cordless phones that constantly emit dirty electricity even when not in use.

Teach your children to use cellphones like porcupines -- make love very, very carefully. For instance, it's ludicrous and dangerous that some teenagers are actually sleeping with cellphones under their pillows. This subjects them to radiation for hours at close quarters. Stress that it's important to turn on cellphones only to check messages and return calls. And carrying a cellphone in a pocket can decrease sperm count.

Use the speaker on the cellphone to keep it away from your head. Being just a short distance away can decrease radiation exposure from 1,000 to 10,000 times.

Remember that texting with a phone exposes a person to the same radiation as talking on the phone. This practice just radiates a different part of the body.

For years I've urged readers to guard against the dangers of needless radiation. This has not made me popular with some organizations. But whether you're dealing with cellphones or other medical problems, Rule No. 1 is to always practise prevention. So unless we get smart with cellphone use, we may have a tsunami of brain cancers years from now as damaged DNA takes years to cause malignancy.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 17, 2010 A23